Tale 52: The Purrloin and the Teapot (Misty)

(real tale: "Folktales from Japan", episode 23, story 2)

"In a certain village lived a hunter and his mom--I'll call him Yajiru." Misty begins. "One day, Yajiru was visiting his friends, and they couldn't stop talking about a Liepard that had been prowling around the village and killing the townsfolk's Pokemon. Yajiru told his friends he wasn't scared, and when he got home that day, he immediately set to work making arrows for his bow." Inspired, Ash pantomimes making arrows.

"Pini?" Happini is interested.

"Well, as Yajiru was working, a meow got his attention." Misty continues, prompting Ash to look in the direction of the tent entrance. "A Purrloin wandered into the house, where it watched Yajiru making arrows. Yajiru asked his mom who the Purrloin belonged to..." Ash pantomimes asking the question to an imagined person. "but his mom said she didn't know. Yajiru didn't mind, though--he found it kinda cute that the Purrloin was batting at the fletching on his arrows."

[What's that?] Korra is interested.

"Fletching is that feathery stuff on an arrow." Brock explains.

"Yajiru made twelve arrows in all, and set out the next morning." Misty continues. "The Purrloin, meanwhile, found a teapot lid, and played with that."

[Did Yajiru find his prey?] Mai asks.

"He searched all over the forest for any sign of the Liepard, but found nothing." Misty explains. "Just before he decided to give up and turn back, he saw tracks, bird Pokemon feathers, and Buneary fur. He followed the tracks for a while in hopes of finding the Liepard, but they ultimately went nowhere. By the time Yajiru reached the end of the trail, it was late, so he made camp for the night." Ash sprawls on the ground and pretends to sleep to illustrate Misty's point.

He then wakes up with a jump as Misty continues "Suddenly, around midnight, Yajiru was awoken by a rustle in the brush, and he saw a pair of glowing green eyes in the darkness! He readied an arrow and fired..." Ash pantomimes shooting a bow. "But he heard the arrow land on something metallic...." Brock gently taps the metallic cooking pot with a fingernail, making it sound more or less like an arrow hitting metal.

"Did he figure out what it was in the darkness?" Melody asks as she shakes in fear.

"Yajiru kept firing arrow after arrow, but they all seemed to hit something metal." Misty continues as she watches Ash pantomime shooting a bow, followed by Brock making the sound of an arrow hitting metal some seconds later. "Before long, Yajiru had ran out of arrows...but then he remembered a special silver arrow he kept just in case of an emergency. So he fired that one..." Ash pantomimes firing the arrow, with Brock hitting the cooking pot slightly harder to represent a successful shot. "and he heard a vaguely feline cry of pain as the being fled."

[And then?] a Meowth asks.

"The next morning, Yajiru found his twelve wooden arrows and a broken teapot lid by the Liepard's corpse." Misty continues. "He thought back to the Purrloin from before--was it possible that the Purrloin was the Liepard's baby?"

"Very intriguing indeed..." Melody muses.

"When Yajiru got home, he asked his mom about his theory." Misty continues. "She told him that the Purrloin disappeared as soon as he left, taking the teapot lid with it. Yajiru concluded the Liepard had magic power, and devolved itself into a Purrloin to see how many arrows he would make. It then used the teapot lid as a shield to block the arrows, and planned to kill him when he ran out."

She then concludes "Luckily, the silver arrow ended up saving him!"

The Pokemon applaud as the boys and Misty take a bow...